iWorking on the iPhone Compared to the iPad

Apple’s iWork suite of Apps are now available on the iPhone and iPod touch. With the exception of GarageBand, that makes all of Apple’s iWork and iLife iOS apps universal. The best part about this update is that if you already own the iPad versions, you get the iPhone versions for free. At first glance, the apps appear very similar on the iPhone and the iPad, but there are some differences worth pointing out.

Pages — The one noticeable difference is that the iPhone version of Pages is missing the iPad’s ruler and toolbar. The ruler on the iPhone is now accessible by clicking on the Tools icon. The other quick access toolbar functions available on the iPad version are still there in the iPhone version, but located in the inspector section for each selectable item. Also, on the iPhone, your only option to undo an action is to shake the iPhone, since there’s no undo button. The Smart Zoom feature just features a magnifying glass wherever you move the cursor, so that you can read what you’re working with. Note also that neither Pages nor Numbers on the iPhone can rotate, so they must be used in portrait mode only.

Numbers — With Numbers, the iPhone version seems to lack the iPad’s full-screen mode. Like Pages, the Undo button is also missing. When editing a cell using the new Smart Zoom feature, you will notice some differences between the keyboards. All of the keys are there, you just may have to do some extra tapping to access some of Apple’s hidden keyboards on the iPhone version of Numbers.

Keynote — Unlike Pages and Numbers, Keynote is fixed in landscape mode on both the iPhone and iPad. Just like the ruler in Pages, the ability to add animations is hidden in the iPhone version, you just access it from the tools menu. Undo again is available via shake only on the iPhone version of Keynote.

With only a subtle few exceptions of a missing ruler, or hidden button, each App appears to support all of the same features and functionality on both the iPhone as well as the iPad. The two implementations are practically indistinguishable from one another, and while the smaller screen of the iPhone means you’ll probably want to use iWork on the iPhone or iPod touch mostly for making small changes, it’s still a very welcome update.